TO THE GATES OF BAGHDAD:

Marines fight their biggest battle of the war (Juan O. Tamayo, 4/4/03, San Jose Mercury News)

A battle Friday for a crucial crossroads 12 miles southeast of Baghdad involved the heaviest combat Marines had undertaken so far in Iraq, commanders said, as members of the Republican Guard put up what one commander called "a coordinated defense."

The Marines lost three of their best tanks in the two-hour battle and at least eight Marines were wounded, though they still captured their last objective before starting operations into Baghdad.

The fierceness of the fight was a glum reminder for the Marines that their next attacks will be into a city of more than 5 million people defended by the most fanatical of Saddam Hussein's followers, with their backs to the wall.

Asked when the Marines would begin operations into Baghdad itself, Col. Larry Brown, operations officer for the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force, said, "Soon. As soon as we can."

Lt. Col. Dave Pere, senior watch officer at the Marines' combat operations center, said the battle for the crossroads was "the heaviest resistance of the war." It forced Marines to dismount their armored personnel carriers for the first time to engage the Iraqis and clear them from trenches and revetments.

The crossroads is one of the anchor points of a loose cordon that the Marines and the U.S. Army's V Corps intend to hold around Baghdad, to keep military vehicles from entering or leaving but allow civilians to pass.

They're going to have to add a verse to their hymn. Posted by Orrin Judd at April 5, 2003 1:50 AM